12 August 1999 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= WinSPIRS v4.01 Release Notes =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================= About these Release Notes ========================= These Release Notes should be read together with the WinSPIRS User Manual, which is available in PDF format from the SilverPlatter web site: http://www.silverplatter.com The WinSPIRS User Manual contains full details of how to install and configure WinSPIRS 4.x. These Release Notes contain the following additional information (along with other items listed in the Contents): * Any late-breaking information about WinSPIRS 4.x that has not yet been included in the WinSPIRS User Manual. * Details of features that are new or are changed in this release. * Details of known issues in this release. These Release Notes also contain some operating hints. The software can be configured to access CD-ROMS at a standalone workstation, over an ERL Server, or both. These Release Notes apply to all WinSPIRS configurations. =-=-=-=-= Contents =-=-=-=-= 1. What You Need to Install WinSPIRS 4.01: System Requirements 2. Installing WinSPIRS 4.01 3. New Features and Changes in this release 4. New Features and Changes in WinSPIRS 4.0 5. Problems Corrected in WinSPIRS 4.0 6. Known Issues 7. Contacting SilverPlatter Technical Support =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. What You Need to Install WinSPIRS 4.01 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A. System Requirements: ----------------------- Please also check the SilverPlatter web site: http://www.silverplatter.com/erl/erlclientreq.htm for any changes. The recommended minimum hardware requirements for WinSPIRS 4.01 are as follows: * 80486 IBM-compatible PC * 8MB RAM * 16MB RAM for SGML databases, such as Health-CD The recommended software for WinSPIRS 4.01: * Windows 3.11/95/98/NT * Windows-compatible TCP/IP software package that implements the WinSock standard at the 1.1 level for running WinSPIRS as an ERL client * ERL server software version 2.1 or greater, to access SGML databases on an ERL server * ERL server software version 4.0 or greater, for Silverlinker functionality. * Access to SDI/Alert functionality is available under Windows 95, 98 and NT, and requires access via a browser to WebSPIRS 4.0 or later. On Windows 95/98/NT systems, Netscape 3.01 or Internet Explorer 4 (or later) is required to access SDIs, Alerts, Silverlinker links and URLs in holdings messages. On Windows 3.11 systems, Netscape 4 (16-bit) or later is required to access Silverlinker links and URLs in holdings messages. SDIs and Alerts are not available from Windows 3.11 systems. B. The WinSPIRS Software Package: --------------------------------- If you have not yet got a copy of the WinSPIRS 4.01 software, and WinSPIRS 4.01 User's Manual, this is how you download them: Downloading with a web browser: ------------------------------- 1. Access the software download page on the SilverPlatter web site; http://www.silverplatter.com/support/registration.html 2. Choose the WinSPIRS 4.01 check box. 3. Fill in the registration details, and click Submit Request. 4. The download package contains the following files: The software (win40.exe). The release notes (readme.txt) (this document) The WinSPIRS User's Manual (Winman40.pdf) The WinSPIRS Quick Reference Card (ws40_qrc.pdf) Downloading using ftp: ---------------------- 1. Use anonymous ftp to connect to SilverPlatter's site: ftp.silverplatter.com 2. Login with user-id anonymous and enter your email address as a password. 3. Change to the /software/erl-server directory. (To do this, enter cd/software/winspirs4) 4. Make sure you will download the files as binary files. (To do this, enter bin) 5. Download all the files from the directory. (To do this, enter mget *. You are prompted to enter y to download each file.) The files will download into whatever is your local directory. The files are: The software (win40.exe). The release notes (readme.txt) (this document) The WinSPIRS User's Manual (Winman40.pdf) The WinSPIRS Quick Reference Card (ws40_qrc.pdf) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 2. Installing WinSPIRS 4.01 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Full details of how to install the WinSPIRS 4.x software are given in Chapter 2 of the WinSPIRS User's Manual (Winman40.pdf), but the following important information is repeated here: Important: ---------- If you install WinSPIRS 4.01 over an existing version of WinSPIRS (WinSPIRS 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 4.0), WinSPIRS 4.01 will update your winspirs.ini but will retain any options you have set. If you install WinSPIRS 4.01 over versions previous to WinSPIRS 2.0, we recommend that you install the software into a different directory. WinSPIRS 4.0 will not update the winspirs.ini file correctly if installed over versions previous to WinSPIRS 2.0. Adding the French, German, Spanish Language Interfaces ------------------------------------------------------ WinSPIRS is now available in French, German and Spanish versions. To install any of these languages: 1. Install the basic WinSPIRS (See the above, and the WinSPIRS User's Manual.) Note: If you have an earlier version of WinSPIRS installed, and you have installed a language, if you now install 4.01 over the top you do not pick up the language details, you will need to install the basic 4.01, and the language files. 2. Locate the appropriate language files. From the SilverPlatter FTP site, go to the WinSPIRS 4 directory; ftp://ftp.silverplatter.com/software/winspirs4/language and download one or more of these files, together with the relevant readme.txt file: * GERMAN.z - for the German language interface. * FRENCH.z - for the French language interface. * SPANISH.z - for the Spanish language interface. 3. Copy the files for the languages you want to install to: ..\winspirs\language 4. Now run the Add Language program: * Double-click the Add Language icon in the WinSPIRS program group or * Change to the ..\winspirs\language directory and run setup.exe 5. Follow the screen instructions. At the Choose Components screen, make sure you check the language interfaces you want to add. Once you have added languages as described above, you can set the default language for WinSPIRS. In the Reconfiguration program, open the Workstation Options dialog. Near the bottom is the Language prompt where you can choose the language you want to be the default. NOTE: If you uninstall WinSPIRS 4.01, the uninstall program does not delete the German, French, or Spanish files. To uninstall WinSPIRS 4.01 fully, run uninstall, and then change to the ..\winspirs\language directory, and delete the language files manually. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 3. Changes in WinSPIRS 4.01 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This release corrects the problem that occurred with the mouse driver for some mice equipped with scrollwheels, which meant the WinSPIRS installer crashed under Windows 98. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 4. New Features and Changes in WinSPIRS 4.0 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * Library Holdings Support A. Holdings Conversion Utility (HCU) ------------------------------------ WinSPIRS 4.0 supports library holdings for all databases supported by the Holdings Conversion Utility (HCU). The HCU converts your library's serials holdings information, in MARC or ASCII formats, into static files for display within SilverPlatter records. This utility supports library holdings information in all ISSN-based SilverPlatter databases. WinSPIRS 4.0 also supports holdings messages with embedded URLs in an environment where there is a browser running on the WinSPIRS 4.0 workstation. Earlier versions of WinSPIRS DO NOT support URLs embedded in holdings messages. Note: WinSPIRS 4.0 will continue to support files generated by SilverPlatter Library Holdings Administration (SPLHA), however, WinSPIRS 4.0 will not support both formats simultaneously. Your holdings MUST be in either the SPLHA format or converted to the new holdings format. B. Disabling Specific Databases for holdings -------------------------------------------- WinSPIRS 4.0 lets you disable holdings display for specific databases. Holdings messages will not appear in records from the databases you specify. This mechanism applies only to locally mounted databases. Records from databases accessed via an ERL server will still show holdings messages, unless holdings from these databases have also been disabled at the ERL server. To disable a database from displaying holdings messages, a line of the form: !42=XX, YY, ... should appear in the first section of winspirs.ini (the section headed [] ). The !42= is followed by a comma separated list of databases to exclude from holdings messages, where XX, YY etc are the first two letters of the database Volume IDs. For example, the line: !42=PL, ML would prevent holdings messages appearing for Medline and PsycLit. An example line appears in winspirs.ini, commented out by an initial semicolon. C. Default Holdings Messages ---------------------------- You may enter a default message to display with your SP records for those serials for which your library has no holdings. An example line (starting ;!57) is given in the [] (first) section of winspirs.ini. The semicolon at the beginning of this line should be removed to enable the message. This mechanism also applies only to locally mounted databases. Records from databases accessed via an ERL server will not show this message. A similar mechanism is available for configuring an ERL4 server to provide default messages. See the Holdings Conversion Utility documentation for full information regarding file conversion. * SDI and Alert current awareness features A. Links to WebSPIRS for SDIs and Alerts ---------------------------------------- In libraries that have the WebSPIRS 4.0 gateway installed, WinSPIRS 4.0 has the ability to link to WebSPIRS to allow authorized users to access the SDI (Selective Dissemination of Information) current awareness feature. The SDI feature enables users to save and identify searches to be rerun automatically. The user specifies the interval at which they want the search to be rerun along with the email address to which search results are to be returned. With WebSPIRS 4.1 the Alert feature will also be available: authorized users will be able to subscribe to a selection of ready-prepared searches. These searches are run periodically, and the results emailed to the user. You must have the following components to take advantage of these features: 1. An account on a WebSPIRS 4.0 and an internet or intranet connection and its URL to access WebSPIRS 4.0. 2. A browser: Netscape 3.01 or Internet Explorer 4 or later. 3. Access to the databases required for the SDI. 4. Windows 95, 98 or NT. Note that due to buffer size restrictions, browsers currently available on Windows3.x systems do not support WebSPIRS 4.x. For this reason, WinSPIRS running on Windows 3.x is not able to access SDI/Alert functionality. B. Configuring WinSPIRS to Allow SDIs and Alerts ----------------------------------------------- The WinSPIRS 4.0 Reconfig program contains a new configuration option, "SDI/Alerts options...", which will let you enable or disable user access to the SDI feature. Note: The Alerts feature will be available when WebSPIRS 4.1 is in General Release. To setup the SDI/Alerts features: 1. Click the "SDI/Alerts options..." option on the Reconfig main screen to display the SDI/Alerts Options dialog box. 2. Click the "Allow SDI Creation and Access" checkbox to enable users to create SDIs, and the "Allow Access to Alert Service" checkbox to enable users to subscribe to alerts. 3. Enter the URL for WebSPIRS. 4. Click the "Login to WebSPIRS automatically" checkbox if you are going to specify a username and password. 5. Enter a username and password in the "Login to WebSPIRS automatically" box. Note: WinSPIRS stores only one username/password for an individual workstation, whether the software is installed individually or by network installation with configuration files on each client PC. If the network installation has been done with shared configuration files on the server, ALL users share only one username/password. 6. Click OK to accept the values and close the "SDI/Alerts Options" dialog box. Or, click Cancel to close the "SDI Options" dialog box without making changes. C. SDI/Alert Menu Items ----------------------- WinSPIRS 4.0 contains new File menu items that function with the SDI feature. The following menu items appear ONLY after WinSPIRS has been configured to enable the SDI feature. "Create SDI..." menu item The "Create SDI..." menu item lets users set up an SDI. After conducting a search and choosing this menu item, WinSPIRS 4 links automatically to WebSPIRS and displays the "Create SDI" screen. "Show SDI Account..." menu item The "Show SDI Account..." menu item lets users edit/administer existing SDIs by linking to WebSPIRS 4 to view an account they setup previously. "Alert Service..." menu item The "Alert Service..." menu item lets users view and subscribe to alerts by linking to WebSPIRS 4.1. D. Creating an SDI from WinSPIRS -------------------------------- Users can access the SDI feature using the following instructions. Note: The databases selected for a WinSPIRS search must be available on the WebSPIRS server hosting the SDIs. 1. Conduct one or more searches in WinSPIRS 4.0. 2. In WinSPIRS, revise your search until it meets your needs for an SDI. 3. Save the search that you want to use for the SDI. 4. Select "Create SDI..." from the File menu. This will launch a browser connection to WebSPIRS 4.0. 5. Follow the WebSPIRS online help for creating the SDI. * SGML Database Support WinSPIRS 4.0 includes support for SGML databases. SGML, or Standard Generalized Markup Language, is an ISO standard that provides methods for representing structured documents in electronic form. You can search the bibliographic portions of SGML records as you do non-SGML records. You can also browse the database Table of Contents, and you can search specific elements of SGML full text. * SilverLinker Support WinSPIRS 4.0 includes support for the SilverLinker Database, which provides links from bibliographic records to the full text of journal articles to which your library subscribes. The SilverLinker Database contains article-level URL links that are displayed dynamically within SilverLinker-enabled bibliographic databases. The links appear as hotlinks in a separate field, shortname "FTXT." Clicking on a full text link launches your system's default Web Browser, and loads the article from the publisher's Internet service or third-party full text service. Your institution will require a subscription to the Web site hosting the text. SilverLinker is available only when the database is installed on an ERL 4.0 server - it is not available when installed locally. Note: Earlier versions of WinSPIRS do not support the SilverLinker feature. In WinSPIRS 2.1 and 2.2, the full text links display as hotlinks, but clicking the link displays an error message. DO NOT try to access full text links in WinSPIRS 2.0 as this will terminate the program. Refer to the SilverLinker documentation for more information. *Year 2000 Compliant Dates Database date ranges are now displayed in ISO format for year 2000 compliance. *Increased Limit Search Range The limit search range has been increased to accommodate larger date formats. *Improved Database Selection Screen You can now view long database names without scrolling. * Full text records and TOC display For full text databases, a new window (the 'Full Text Window') has been made available, and some changes made to the Table Of Contents display. Non-full text databases retain the WinSPIRS 2.1-style display of records and TOC. Using the Table of Contents WinSPIRS no longer merges Tables of Contents (TOC) when you are Searching more than one full text database. Now, if you display the TOC with multiple full text databases loaded, WinSPIRS displays the Available TOCs dialog box. Once in the Table of Contents, you can change to the table of contents of another database. To do so, click 'Change TOC ...' or select 'Change Table of Contents ... ' from the Options menu. Showing Full Text The Retrieved Records areas of the Search and Index screens (but not The TOC screen) now display ONLY bibliographic portions of full text records; the full text is displayed in a separate window. To show the full text of a record: 1. Perform a search in the Search area screen or choose a term or phrase from Index screen. 2. Scroll through the retrieved records. WinSPIRS enables the Show Full Text button if the current record contains full text. 3. Click Show Full Text. WinSPIRS displays the new Full Text window and - if appropriate - shows display progress as it loads the full text of the current record. Since only the current record is displayed in the full text window, the scrollbar is more sensitive and navigation within the record is improved. To display the full text of a different record just click into the bibliographic section of that record (on the main search or index screen) and then click the Show Full Text button again. In this way the main and Full Text windows can be used as a 'coarse' and 'fine' control for navigating between and within records. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 5. Problems Corrected in WinSPIRS 4.0 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- WinSPIRS 4.0 corrects problems that appeared in earlier software versions. * Subdirectory Mapping You can use wildcards and UNC names to specify directories mounted on a subdirectory level, for databases that are either magnetically-mounted or on CD-ROM. For example, specifying: DRIVES=\\SERVER\DBASES\* In the [CORE] section of winspirs.ini will allow access to All the databases in directories one level under DBASES on the machine 'SERVER'. * Problems opening certain databases on CD servers Previous versions of WinSPIRS were unable to open some SilverPlatter databases when mounted using CD server software which maps CD drives to a shared directory. The CD server mapped directory path(s) should be specified in the DRIVES= parameter of winspirs.ini. UNC names and wildcards can be used. * Hanging Sessions in Windows95 Windows 95 networked users should not experience hanging sessions in which sh30mon.exe was left running. * Graphics Printing You can print the current record, with any fields selected to print, in the Derwent or EINECS databases. * Printing SGML Records You can print bibliographic information from several SGML database records on the same sheet. * Index Collating Sequences Where several databases are selected that include languages with different alphabetic collating sequences, the index will not adjust for the collating sequence on a per-database basis. A warning box is displayed where the indexes have mixed collating sequences. The Index function is not available in these cases. * Large Thesaurus Trees You can display, navigate, and perform searches in large Thesaurus trees. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 6. Known Issues in this Release =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The following problems have been identified in WinSPIRS 4.0 and 4.01 * Default browser not found in Windows 3.11 For Silverlinker links and URLs in holdings messages, WinSPIRS 4.01 will attempt to launch the Windows default browser. For Windows 3.11 systems, this must be specified explicitly in the winspirs.ini file. Edit this file with a text editor such as Notepad and specify the path to the browser executable and its DDE service name. This information appears under the [SDI] section near the end of the file. Winspirs.ini contains example lines and instructions relevant to a typical Netscape 4 installation. It is recommended that you take a copy of the old winspirs.ini before editing, to allow restoring it in case of problems. Close down any running copies of Reconfig or the ERL Configuration program before editing winspirs.ini. * Database not seen immediately after installing In some circumstances, WinSPIRS will fail to detect the available databases immediately after installation. Re-booting the PC after installing WinSPIRS will avoid this problem. * Network installation must use mapped drive When performing a network installation of WinSPIRS, the setup program on the server must be run from each client. On Windows 95 or NT 4, this should be done by using Explorer to map a drive on the client to the WinSPIRS directory on the server, then starting setup by double clicking on the file in Explorer. The alternative of running setup by using the Start..Run..menu will not install WinSPIRS correctly. * Network printer names and NT clients WinSPIRS running under Windows NT will not print correctly to network printers with long names, or those containing characters like '='. A 'Margins too wide' error is reported, even though the margins are correctly set. A workaround for this problem is to change the printer name on the server to a shorter name (for example, 17 characters of fewer) containing only characters legal in DOS / Windows 3 filenames. If this is not possible, a local 'printer' with a short name can be created on the client NT machine and set up to print to the UNC path of the network printer. * Font for correct display of ISO Latin-1 databases The default font (Courier-LD) supplied with WinSPIRS is a PC437 (DOS-style) font and will not correctly display or print all characters found in the ISO Latin-1 character set (e.g. accented characters). When using an ISO Latin-1 database, select an ANSI font. he standard fonts supplied with Windows are ANSI fonts, for example Arial or Times New Roman for proportional fonts, or Courier New for fixed-pitch. * Changing multi-user install type requires reboot Multi-user installation offers the option of either a single copy of configuration files shared between all users, or multiple configuration files where each user has their own ('unique') copy. When changing an installation between these types, the old installation should be first removed, then the server rebooted, then the new installation made. * Location of holdings files The 'Holdings Exist', 'Library Holdings Directory' and 'Include Holdings Message' settings in Reconfig are not working correctly. If holdings files (splha.lhm/lhd/lhi) are found in the WinSPIRS directory, holdings messages are always included in the default display, print and download fields. If the files are not present in this directory, no holdings messages are produced. * Per-session print limit not honored The per-session print limit is not effective. The per-run limit works correctly. Note that the limits refer to pages rather than records. * Table of Contents and navigation in full text databases In some circumstances, the Next/Previous Hit and Synchronize functionality on the Full Text Window may not work correctly. - Using the table of contents in the Full Text Window simultaneously with the table of contents displayed on the Retrieved Records window may cause WinSPIRS to terminate abnormally. Where multiple full text databases are selected, it is only possible to view the table of contents from one database at a time. Where a full text database is split over several CDs this may lead to the table of contents being incomplete. * 'Guides' not available for databases on hard disk Where databases are being used from hard disk rather than CD, the database specific help ('Guides') may not be available in some circumstances. * Selecting multiple items from an index and scrolling When the scrollbar thumb is used to scroll a list of index terms, the top item displayed is selected (highlighted), and any previous selections made are discarded. This problem can be avoided through scrolling by clicking on the scrollbar above or below the thumb, or by using the scrollbar arrows. * Database present both on disk and CD If the same database is installed on hard disk and also located in a CD drive, WinSPIRS will hang and eventually crash. * Lateral searches in ISO Latin-1 databases Lateral searching can be carried out in ISO Latin-1 databases, including situations where the search string contains accented characters. An exception to this is lateral searches for terms which begin with an accented letter. These do not currently work and will return no hits. This problem can be reliably worked around by using the index for searching terms with leading accented characters. In many instances, however, it will be sufficient to remove the quotes which WinSPIRS places around the lateral search string, and repeat the search. * 'Show held titles only' and large record sets Attempting to show held-titles only with very large result sets (typically larger than 10-15,000 records) may cause slow performance or other problems. Refining the search to give fewer hits before attempting to show held titles should resolve these problems. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 7. Contacting SilverPlatter =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= If you need further assistance with the WinSPIRS software, please send an e-mail to support@silverplatter.com or contact one of SilverPlatter's regional offices: UNITED STATES: SilverPlatter Information, Inc. 100 River Ridge Drive Norwood, MA 02062 Tel: 800-343-0064 781-769-2599 Fax: 781-769-8763 ---------------------------------- LONDON: SilverPlatter Information Ltd Merlin House, 20 Belmont Terrace Chiswick, London W4 5UG England Tel: +44 (0) 181 585 6400 Fax: +44 (0) 181 585 6640 ---------------------------------- AMSTERDAM: SilverPlatter Information BV Nieuwe Herengracht 49 1011 RN Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel: +31 (0)20-625 96 50 Fax: +31 (0)20-623 74 08 ---------------------------------- BERLIN: SilverPlatter Information GmbH Guentzelstrasse 63 D-10717 Berlin Germany Tel: +49 (0)30-857799-0 Fax: +49 (0)30-857799-99 ---------------------------------- =-=-=-= 12 August 1999